Samantha Hames

I'm Sam! I'm quirky, chatty and immensely energetic. My greatest loves include; books, reggae music, cheese, Jack Daniels and David Lynch. I'm due to graduate in just over a month, and hope to kickstart my writing career as soon as possible. To put it cheesily, writing is my calling. :)

Once again Twitter is afire with the misplaced wrath of a thousand frustratef feminists. One woman’s call to action has seemingly lit a rage beacon that continues to draw in angry women like moths to a flame. This summer author and actor Luce Anne Holmes decided to pick up where other female counterparts have left off, calling for a ban on that Oh So British of institutions, the Page 3 girl.

Every Friday night the 02 Academy in Newcastle hosts a party like no other. As soon as the sun sets and the temperature drops, Dirty Pop comes out to play. And you’d best be ready for it, because on the 21st of Septermber it’s coming for you. And it’s going to be bigger than ever. If you love to drink, if you love to party, you’ll love Dirty Pop, and BounceSIN wants to know just how much.

Monogamy. Is it a way of life? Or just a word? Can a relationship survive if there’s more than two people supping from the proverbial fountain?

There is nothing that gets the doe-eyed amongst us cooing faster than long-time sweethearts. We all wish we could be that elderly couple holding hands in the park, but the reality is that most of us will drift from one monogamous relationship to another.

Nobody frowns at a person who introduces themselves as a Christian. Not many would sneer at an individual who asked to be excused because they were a Muslim. It isn’t usually considered impolite to talk about your religious views at a dinner table. Or at work. Or in a school. Being a courteous, reserved nation of (mostly) repressed or lapsed Protestants, Britain is a great place to be religious and proud. Have the gall to declare that you’re an atheist however and you might find that the tables quickly turn.

Last month American magazine US Weekly broke the news of Kristen Stewart’s affair with ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ director Rupert Sanders. It was the scoop of a lifetime. Catching one half of the worlds biggest couple in flagrante with someone who definitely isn’tthe other half of the worlds biggest couple is certainly going to give your readership a kick. And to give them their dues US weekly quietly endured a fortnight of unrelenting abuse from Twilight fans before the rumours were officially confirmed by Stewart herself.

The population of the United Kingdom now stands at just over60million people. Just over1 millionof those people are classed as beingBlack CaribbeanorBlack African. Statistics show that black people are still six times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police. Black children are five times less likely than white children to be considered ‘gifted and talented,’ but three times more likely to be excluded or expelled. If found guilty, black people almost always receive longer sentences than white people.

According to the numbers, Great Britain remains a racist nation. But numbers can be misleading.

Noted Tory Louise Mensch has announced that she is to step down as MP for Corby and East Northhamptonshire. Her reason? She can no longer balance her political work with her family commitments. Reaction to the news has been unfavourable to say the least. You can almost hear the collective sigh of feminists nationwide, a lingering cry of resignation as the final boot is stuck into the movement.

Cancer. It’s a little word that can mean the world. For most people it’ll never be more than that, for others it’s a word that will come to define their very existence. Over seven million people a year are diagnosed with cancer. To put it in perspective, that's the entire population of Hong Kong. Cancer can affect almost any part of a human body. Its victims are rich, poor, male, female, gay, straight, black and white. They can also be young.

Ladies and gentleman, something big is happening. There’s a change on the wind, a transformation in the air. Where once it used to be the words ‘chocolate’ or ‘shoes’ that completed the old clichés of feminine pleasure, pretty soon it’ll be the word ‘pornography.’

If recent studies are anything to go by, modern women are currently coming (pun definitely intended!) to porn like Aussies to a BBQ. More and more women are finding the sexual confidence and the sexual assurance to regularly access and even enjoy mainstream pornography. Since the end of the noughties and the advent of the ‘teenies,’ there has been a massive increase in the amount of female porn consumers. Women are buying, browsing and watching pornography at home and in their offices. And it's a safe bet that over the next decade women will begin to influence pornography in as significant a way as their male counterparts.

A great man once said that the ‘world is just like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think that it’s real, because that's how powerful our minds are. But it’s just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It’s a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourselves off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what you can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride.’

That man was William Melvin Hicks. And he was a stand up comedian, a comedian like no other the world has ever seen before or since. Hicks died painfully young in February 1994, but he left behind a startling revelation. He taught us that comedy could change the world.